Books with author Stephen Manes

Is it possible? Can an ordinary human being really become a perfect person in three short days? Milo Crinkley thought so. What gave him the idea was a book that fell on his head one day at the library--a book with the impressive title Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days! The author, Dr. K. Pinkerton Silverfish, did look kind of weird, but he claimed to be the world's leading authority on perfection. Milo took the book home and followed its instructions. He liked the idea of being perfect. Perfect people never had their parents nag at them. Perfect people never had to take the blame for rotten tricks their sisters played. Perfect people never needed erasers. Perfect was obviously the perfect thing to be! Did Milo become a perfect person in just three days? More important, can you? Do you think we're going to answer all your questions here when we want you to read this hilarious book?Winner of five kid-voted statewide awards! California Young Reader Medal Charlie May Simon Award (Arkansas) Georgia Children's Book Award Nene Award (Hawaii) Sunshine State Award (Florida)

To the Special Forces, it’s a mission; to him, it’s the dilemma from hell.Lieutenant Tom Hilton did the most wonderful and stupid thing he could ever do with his life. At the height of the Cold War, he fell for the enemy: Irina, a Soviet naval officer. The streets of Moscow are a world of subterfuge, but they must keep their secret from the KGB.When war erupts in the South Atlantic, Tom is forced to abandon Irina. With the Soviets on his tail, he leads his dive team into the most dangerous place on Earth: a shipwreck with live nuclear weapons. The task is illegal and deniable, but failure is not an option; millions of lives are at stake.With the British submarine HMS Sultan and the Soviet submarine Arkhangelsk facing each other down like gunfighters, Tom’s confronted with a harsh realisation: Irina’s on the other side, playing for the opposition. How can he choose? Will saving Irina lead to the failure of his mission? Can he lead his team to success against the odds?If you like the sound of ‘Jason Bourne meets The Hunt for Red October’, join Tom now in the most dangerous place on Earth.What Amazon readers are saying about the book:★★★★★ ‘Awesome book. It was hard to put down.’★★★★ ‘A very interesting story of two people who display the fact that they are just human, imperfect, quite loyal to their career and eventually to each other… There was certainly no shortage of intense events throughout the book, especially toward the end.’★★★★★ ‘Too hot to handle. Amazing book including a look at both sides of the superpowers as well as Great Britain all heading into a showdown to include nucs. Then comes an amazing ending. The main characters are a British marine officer and a Russian female officer who become involved with each other. Definitely need to read Book 2.’★★★★★ ‘This spy thriller was probably the most enjoyable read I’ve had for quite a while… I learned about diving, the living conditions in submarines and the quiet war in intelligence services. Informative indeed. I am also a sap probably for a good romantic interest in an altogether excellent spy story… I am convinced Stephen Makk is an author of note in the making and is to be followed with keen interest. The comfortable narrative and building of suspense are just too good for this not to be true.’★★★★★ ‘Great storyline. Excellent book. As a former Brit veteran who served during the Cold War specializing in Comms, Diving, Int and Humint I was hooked… Kudos, Stephen. You now have a fan not just for Tom and Irina but all the rest of your books.’★★★★★ ‘Really enjoyed the story. Great plot. Great characters.’★★★★★ ‘It has all the elements! An informational and interesting read. Good insight into a couple of superpowers. The ending had me guessing.’★★★★ ‘I really enjoyed reading this story. A good mix of adventure, suspense, romance… Keep up the good work, Stephen.’★★★★★ ‘This was a lot of fun. Great storyline with engaging characters.’★★★★★ ‘Five stars. It is a very good read. Fast moving with a very good end. I loved it.’★★★★★ ‘Absolutely loved it! Love the characters, loved the story! Very believable. Would recommend to anyone, READ THIS BOOK, you’ll love it! I did.’

It all came down to fate. At stake: $4,000 billion of the world’s trade and 20% of the population. The Taiwanese Tiger and the Chinese Dragon are squaring up at last.The island of Taiwan, long coveted by the Chinese, is separated from China by 100 miles of the Straits of Taiwan. For years there have been tensions between the two countries, with China wanting unification but many in Taiwan preferring independence. The conflict has reached boiling point and the USA has sworn to defend the island. Now billions of lives are threatened in a nuclear exchange between America and its trade partner and foe across the Pacific, China.It all came down to two people: Commander Nathan Blake and May Hsin. He’s commander of the submarine USS Stonewall Jackson; she’s an officer with the National Security Bureau, Taiwan’s intelligence agency. They must both wrestle with their own demons to prevail. For Nathan, it’s his conflicting rules of engagement, whereas May is undercover in the enemy’s lair but finding warmth in the snake’s coils.You’ve been called up. You will serve on board the USS Stonewall Jackson and go along with May Hsin into the backstreets of Shanghai. It’s down to you now. Fate is cruel; get used to it.

North Korea has perfected a ballistic nuclear submarine, positioned far from the Californian coast but capable of raining down terror on Seattle, San Francisco, LA and San Diego. Enough is enough. It’s time to take out this threat and take apart North Korea’s People’s Navy one boat at a time.They say cometh the hour, cometh the man. Cometh the foe, cometh the submarine.In exercises against allied diesel-electric boats, the United States Navy watched and learned. Its answer? The most powerful and silent diesel-electric boat ever to patrol the deeps: the USS Stonewall Jackson.It would require a cunning warrior of the seas to command such a boat. The USN has chosen its best young submariner: Commander Nathan Blake. He’ll need to employ stealth and guile to seek out the foe.The USS Stonewall Jackson is on her way; she’s mean and mad as hell. But will Nathan find that the Korean People’s Navy has a trick up its sleeve? Follow Nathan and the USS Stonewall Jackson into hell and damnation.What Amazon readers are saying about the book:★★★★★ ‘If you love sub stories, you’ll love this one!’★★★★★ ‘Great book. Enjoyed every page. Have read book 2 and am now reading book 3.’★★★★★ ‘Good reading! Fiction on the verge of reality. I have always enjoyed a good submarine story... This one will capture your attention. Hard to put the story aside once you begin.’★★★★★ ‘You wanted to know what was coming next and how they were going to get of trouble when they got in a jam.’★★★★★ ‘Essential reading. To date I have read 7 of the author’s books.’★★★★★ ‘Five stars. A gripping read.’★★★★★ ‘Fast moving; hard to put down; close to accurate as a submarine story can be.’★★★★★ ‘Excellent writing. Submarine warfare at its best. Succinct and current. Looking forward to the next book.’★★★★★ ‘Submariners will find their new home aboard the USS Stonewall Jackson.’

The internationally acclaimed new book that takes you behind the scenes to reveal how ballet really happens: In a scuffed-up studio, a veteran dancer transmits the magic of an eighty-year-old ballet to a performer barely past drinking age. In a converted barn, an indomitable teacher creates ballerinas as she has for more than half a century. In a monastic mirrored room, dancers from as near as New Jersey and as far as Mongolia learn works as old as the nineteenth century and as new as this morning. "Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear" zooms in on an intimate view of one full season in the life of one of America's top ballet companies and schools: Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet. But it also tracks the Land of Ballet to venues as celebrated as New York and Monte Carlo and as seemingly ordinary as Bellingham, Washington and small-town Pennsylvania. Never before has a book taken readers backstage for such a wide-ranging view of the ballet world from the wildly diverse perspectives of dancers, choreographers, stagers, teachers, conductors, musicians, rehearsal pianists, lighting directors, costumers, stage managers, scenic artists, marketers, fundraisers, students, and even pointe shoe fitters--often in their own remarkably candid words. The book follows characters as colorful as they are talented. Versatile dancers team up with novice choreographers and those as renowned as Susan Stroman, Christopher Wheeldon, and Twyla Tharp to create art on deadline. At the book's center is Peter Boal, a former New York City Ballet star in his third year as PNB's artistic director, as he manages conflicting constituencies with charm, tact, rationality and diplomacy. Readers look over Boal's shoulder as he makes tough decisions about programming, casting, scheduling and budgeting that eventually lead the calm, low-key leader to declare that in his job, "You have to be willing to be hated." "Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear" shows how ballet is made, funded, and sold. It escorts you front and center to the kick zone of studio rehearsals. It takes you to the costume shop where elegant tutus and gowns are created from scratch. It brings you backstage to see sets and lighting come alive while stagehands get lovingly snarky and obscene on their headsets. It sits you down in meetings where budgets get slashed and dreams get funded--and axed. It shows you the inner workings of Nutcracker, from kids' charming auditions to no-nonsense marketing meetings, from snow bags in the flies to dancing snowflakes who curse salty flurries that land on their tongues. It follows the tempestuous assembly of a version of Romeo and Juliet that runs afoul of so much pressure, disease, injury, and blood that the dancers begin to call it cursed. The book uncovers the astounding way ballets, with no common form of written preservation, are handed down via the prodigious memories of brilliant athletes who also happen to be artists. It goes on tour with the company to Vail, Colorado, where dancers contend with altitude that makes their muscles cramp and their lungs ache. It visits cattle-call auditions and rigorous classes, tells the stories of dancers whose parents sacrificed for them and dancers whose parents refused to. It meets the resolute woman who created a dance school more than fifty years ago in a Carlisle, Pennsylvania barn and grew it into one of America's most reliable ballerina factories. It shows ballet's appeal to kids from low-income neighborhoods and board members who live in mansions. Shattering longstanding die-for-your-art clichés, this book uncovers the real drama in the daily lives of fiercely dedicated union members in slippers and pointe shoes--and the musicians, stagehands, costumers, donors and administrators who support them. "Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear: Inside the Land of Ballet" brings readers the exciting truth of how ballet actually happens.

From the author of Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!How many things can go wrong on a summer vacation? The Hooples are about to find out!Alvin Hoople just can't wait to get to Philadelphia. He'll see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the U.S. Mint, where rumor has it they give out free samples. Better yet: a Phillies baseball game. It's Bat Night, where every fan gets a full-sized souvenir!The trip is fun at first, with Monsterburgers, Mr. Clam, and cows that give chocolate milk all part of what looks like a great vacation. But once the Hooples get on the superhighway, everything seems to go wrong. Alvin's little sister Annie keeps losing Lambie, her favorite stuffed toy. The weather threatens to get everybody all wet. And then there's the worst problem of all: car trouble.A ride in a tow truck is definitely a hoot, but it's no Phillies game. Will things ever get back to normal? And will Alvin get his souvenir bat at the end of the most hilarious car trip ever?Drive in and see!

Is it possible? Can an ordinary human being really become a perfect person in three short days?Milo Crinkley thought so. What gave him the idea was a book that fell on his head one day at the library--a book with the impressive title Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days! The author, Dr. K. Pinkerton Silverfish, did look kind of weird, but he claimed to be the world's leading authority on perfection.Milo took the book home and followed its instructions. He liked the idea of being perfect. Perfect people never had their parents nag at them. Perfect people never had to take the blame for rotten tricks their sisters played. Perfect people never needed erasers. Perfect was obviously the perfect thing to be!Did Milo become a perfect person in just three days? More important, can you?Do you think we're going to answer all your questions here when we want you to read this hilarious book?Winner of five kid-voted statewide awards! California Young Reader MedalCharlie May Simon Award (Arkansas) Georgia Children's Book AwardNene Award (Hawaii)Sunshine State Award (Florida)A personal message from Dr. K. Pinkerton Silverfish, world's leading expert on perfection:● Maybe you think it's all a lot of baloney. Maybe you think nobody can become perfect in three short days. Well, maybe you should think again!● Here's my no-risk guarantee: Try this book for just three days. If you're not absolutely delighted with the results, you can go soak your head. Now, what could be fairer than that?● I won't be satisfied until every man, woman, and child on the face of the earth completes my amazing crash course in perfection. So, remember: If you don't read this book, I'm going to tell on you!

The internationally acclaimed new book that takes you behind the scenes to reveal how ballet really happens: In a scuffed-up studio, a veteran dancer transmits the magic of an eighty-year-old ballet to a performer barely past drinking age. In a converted barn, an indomitable teacher creates ballerinas as she has for more than half a century. In a monastic mirrored room, dancers from as near as New Jersey and as far as Mongolia learn works as old as the nineteenth century and as new as this morning. Snowflakes zooms in on an intimate view of one full season in the life of one of America's top ballet companies and schools: Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet. But it also tracks the Land of Ballet to venues as celebrated as New York and Monte Carlo and as seemingly ordinary as Bellingham, Washington and small-town Pennsylvania. Never before has a book taken readers backstage for such a wide-ranging view of the ballet world from the wildly diverse perspectives of dancers, choreographers, stagers, teachers, conductors, musicians, rehearsal pianists, lighting directors, costumers, stage managers, scenic artists, marketers, fundraisers, students, and even pointe shoe fitters--often in their own remarkably candid words. The book follows characters as colorful as they are talented. Versatile dancers from around the globe team up with novice choreographers and those as renowned as Susan Stroman, Christopher Wheeldon, and Twyla Tharp to create art on deadline. At the book's center is Peter Boal, a former New York City Ballet star in his third year as PNB's artistic director, as he manages conflicting constituencies with charm, tact, rationality and diplomacy. Readers look over Boal's shoulder as he makes tough decisions about programming, casting, scheduling and budgeting that eventually lead the calm, low-key leader to declare that in his job, "You have to be willing to be hated." Snowflakes shows how ballet is made, funded, and sold. It escorts you front and center to the kick zone of studio rehearsals. It takes you to the costume shop where elegant tutus and gowns are created from scratch. It brings you backstage to see sets and lightingwi come alive while stagehands get lovingly snarky and obscene on their headsets. It sits you down in meetings where budgets get slashed and dreams get funded-and axed. It shows you the inner workings of Nutcracker, from kids' charming auditions to no-nonsense marketing meetings, from snow bags in the flies to dancing snowflakes who curse salty flurries that land on their tongues. It follows the tempestuous assembly of a version of Romeo and Juliet that runs afoul of so much pressure, disease, injury, and blood that the dancers begin to call it cursed. Snowflakes uncovers the astounding way ballets, with no common form of written preservation, are handed down from generation to generation through the prodigious memories of brilliant athletes who also happen to be artists. It goes on tour with the company to Vail, Colorado, where dancers contend with altitude that makes their muscles cramp and their lungs ache. It visits cattle-call auditions and rigorous classes, tells the stories of dancers whose parents sacrificed for them and dancers whose parents refused to. It meets the resolute woman who created a dance school more than fifty years ago in a Carlisle, Pennsylvania barn and grew it into one of America's most reliable ballerina factories. It shows ballet's appeal to kids from low-income neighborhoods and board members who live in mansions. Shattering longstanding die-for-your-art clichés, this book uncovers the real drama in the daily lives of fiercely dedicated union members in slippers and pointe shoes-and the musicians, stagehands, costumers, donors and administrators who support them. Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear: Inside the Land of Ballet brings readers the exciting truth of how ballet actually happens.

The United States Navy has designed the most powerful and silent diesel-electric submarine to ever patrol the deeps: the USS Stonewall Jackson. It would require a cunning warrior of the seas to command such a boat, and the USN has chosen its best young submariner: Commander Nathan Blake. He’ll need to employ stealth and guile to seek out the foe.This digital boxset is an omnibus edition containing the first, second and third thrillers of the USS Stonewall Jackson series, plus bonus book HMS Holy Ghost.USS Stonewall Jackson: North Korea has perfected a ballistic nuclear submarine capable of lying way off the Californian coast and raining down nuclear terror on the USA. Enough is enough. USS Stonewall Jackson is given the task of tracking down the enemy. But will Nathan find that the Korean People’s Navy has a trick up its sleeve?The Spratly Incident: The South China Sea’s islands and reefs are in dispute, sitting over vast oil and gas wealth. The People’s Republic of China is taking possession of these and turning them into sea fortresses. It’s time for the USS Stonewall Jackson to intervene. Follow Nathan and his crew as they take on the might of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.The Black Sea Horde: The Russian Black Sea Fleet is intent on flooding into the Mediterranean to face the US Sixth Fleet. USS New York City is the tripwire and first line of defense. For her Weapons Officer, young Lieutenant Commander Nathan Blake, it’s the patrol from hell. Stand with Nathan onboard the USS New York City as he faces the Black Sea Horde.HMS Holy Ghost: Captain Luke MacArthur has his orders: hunt down two of the quietest submarines in the world. They were the deadly weapon of the Soviet Union in the Cold War: the Kilo Class, known as the Black Hole for a good reason. Iran intends to use these submarines to choke off the Gulf oil supply. Join the crew of HMS Holy Ghost and help Luke to hunt down the Black Hole.What Amazon readers are saying about the series:★★★★★ ‘If you love sub stories, you’ll love this one!’★★★★★ ‘Great book. Enjoyed every page. Have read book 2 and am now reading book 3.’★★★★★ ‘Good reading! Fiction on the verge of reality. I have always enjoyed a good submarine story... This one will capture your attention. Hard to put the story aside once you begin.’★★★★★ ‘You wanted to know what was coming next and how they were going to get of trouble when they got in a jam.’★★★★★ ‘Essential reading. To date I have read 7 of the author’s books.’★★★★★ ‘Five stars. A gripping read.’★★★★★ ‘Fast moving; hard to put down; close to accurate as a submarine story can be.’★★★★★ ‘Excellent writing. Submarine warfare at its best. Succinct and current. Looking forward to the next book.’★★★★★ ‘Submariners will find their new home aboard the USS Stonewall Jackson.’

From the author of Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!, here's the story of the wildest family road trip ever . . .How many things can go wrong on a summer vacation? The Hooples are about to find out!Alvin Hoople just can't wait to get to Philadelphia. He'll see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the U.S. Mint, where rumor has it they give out free samples. Better yet: a Phillies baseball game. It's Bat Night, where every fan gets a full-sized souvenir!The trip is fun at first, with Monsterburgers, Mr. Clam, and cows that give chocolate milk all part of what looks like a great vacation. But once the Hooples get on the superhighway, everything seems to go wrong. Alvin's little sister Annie keeps losing Lambie, her favorite stuffed toy. The weather threatens to get everybody all wet. And then there's the worst problem of all: car trouble.A ride in a tow truck is definitely a hoot, but it's no Phillies game. Will things ever get back to normal? And will Alvin get his souvenir bat at the end of the most hilarious car trip ever?Drive in and see!

Is it possible? Can an ordinary human being really become a perfect person in three short days? Milo Crinkley thought so. What gave him the idea was a book that fell on his head one day at the library--a book with the impressive title Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days! The author, Dr. K. Pinkerton Silverfish, did look kind of weird, but he claimed to be the world's leading authority on perfection. Milo took the book home and followed its instructions. He liked the idea of being perfect. Perfect people never had their parents nag at them. Perfect people never had to take the blame for rotten tricks their sisters played. Perfect people never needed erasers. Perfect was obviously the perfect thing to be! Did Milo become a perfect person in just three days? More important, can you? Do you think we're going to answer all your questions here when we want you to read this hilarious book?A personal message from Dr. K. Pinkerton Silverfish, world's leading expert on perfection:● Maybe you think it's all a lot of baloney. Maybe you think nobody can become perfect in three short days. Well, maybe you should think again!● Here's my no-risk guarantee: Try this book for just three days. If you're not absolutely delighted with the results, you can go soak your head. Now, what could be fairer than that?● I won't be satisfied until every man, woman, and child on the face of the earth completes my amazing crash course in perfection. So, remember: If you don't read this book, I'm going to tell on you!

The internationally acclaimed book that takes you behind the scenes to reveal how ballet really happens:In a scuffed-up studio, a veteran dancer transmits the magic of an eighty-year-old ballet to a performer barely past drinking age. In a converted barn, an indomitable teacher creates ballerinas as she has for more than half a century. In a monastic mirrored room, dancers from as near as New Jersey and as far as Mongolia learn works as old as the nineteenth century and as new as this morning. Snowflakes zooms in on an intimate view of one full season in the life of one of America's top ballet companies and schools: Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet. But it also tracks the Land of Ballet to venues as celebrated as New York and Monte Carlo and as seemingly ordinary as Bellingham, Washington and small-town Pennsylvania. Never before has a book taken readers backstage for such a wide-ranging view of the ballet world from the wildly diverse perspectives of dancers, choreographers, stagers, teachers, conductors, musicians, rehearsal pianists, lighting directors, costumers, stage managers, scenic artists, marketers, fundraisers, students, and even pointe shoe fitters--often in their own remarkably candid words. The book follows characters as colorful as they are talented. Versatile dancers from around the globe team up with novice choreographers and those as renowned as Susan Stroman, Christopher Wheeldon, and Twyla Tharp to create art on deadline. At the book's center is Peter Boal, a former New York City Ballet star in his third year as PNB's artistic director, as he manages conflicting constituencies with charm, tact, rationality and diplomacy. Readers look over Boal's shoulder as he makes tough decisions about programming, casting, scheduling and budgeting that eventually lead the calm, low-key leader to declare that in his job, "You have to be willing to be hated." Snowflakes shows how ballet is made, funded, and sold. It escorts you front and center to the kick zone of studio rehearsals. It takes you to the costume shop where elegant tutus and gowns are created from scratch. It brings you backstage to see sets and lighting come alive while stagehands get lovingly snarky and obscene on their headsets. It sits you down in meetings where budgets get slashed and dreams get funded--and axed. It shows you the inner workings of Nutcracker, from kids' charming auditions to no-nonsense marketing meetings, from snow bags in the flies to dancing snowflakes who curse salty flurries that land on their tongues. It follows the tempestuous assembly of a version of Romeo and Juliet that runs afoul of so much pressure, disease, injury, and blood that the dancers begin to call it cursed. Snowflakes uncovers the astounding way ballets, with no common form of written preservation, are handed down from generation to generation through the prodigious memories of brilliant athletes who also happen to be artists. It visits cattle-call auditions and rigorous classes, tells the stories of dancers whose parents sacrificed for them and dancers whose parents refused to. It meets the resolute woman who created a dance school more than fifty years ago in a Carlisle, Pennsylvania barn and grew it into one of America's most reliable ballerina factories. It shows ballet's appeal to kids from low-income neighborhoods and board members who live in mansions. Shattering longstanding die-for-your-art clichés, this book uncovers the real drama in the daily lives of fiercely dedicated artists in slippers and pointe shoes-and the musicians, stagehands, costumers, donors and administrators who support them. Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear: Inside the Land of Ballet brings readers the exciting truth of how ballet actually happens.